Mailbox for March 12

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City boundaries don’t matter in fracking health concerns

At the recent meeting regarding the Sheep Draw drilling application by Mineral Resources Inc., Dr. Mark Schreibman stated, “We don’t mind if they are outside the city. ... Save us the time, effort and money and find a place outside of the city limits.”

Well, Mark, Mineral Resources and many other drilling companies are way ahead of you. I live outside the city limits, and there are 19 oil/gas facilities within a half-mile of our house. Thanks for sharing the love, but no thanks. If you are truly concerned about the health impacts of drilling and fracking, surely you can empathize with and extend your concern to your rural neighbors.

I am concerned about the health and environmental impacts of oil and gas development for all Weld county residents, not just those who have chosen to live within the Greeley city limits or outside of them. I am willing to support Greeley residents in collectively expressing our concerns to public officials; I expect the same consideration and cooperation from you for those of us who live outside Greeley and have been exposed to the negative impacts of oil and gas drilling for many years.

Let’s meet, plan and together dialog with our public officials about our expectations of them in protecting our health and environment. If you share my concerns, contact our group at weldairandwater@gmail.com.

Julie Boyle, Gill

It’s time to take a stand at planning meeting today

I attended a community meeting at the Greeley Family FunPlex recently. Mineral Resources, an oil and gas company, explained how it will mitigate its proposed fracking in the Sheep Draw/Fox Run area. They will build fences to hide equipment, construct sound walls and add hay bales to contain noise.

They have obtained driveway access onto 10th Street. Noise, lights, traffic and air pollution will be 24/7 companions for 20 years while they drill 22 projected wells.

Mineral Resources promised to be a good neighbor, which is neither contractual nor quantifiable nor is there any real incentive to be good neighbors once drilling gets under way.

The proposal will be heard at the Planning Commission meeting at 1:15 p.m. today, though many attendees believed the project already was a “done deal.”

The Denver Post reported last September: “Spills are happening at the rate of seven a week — releasing more than 2 million gallons this year of diesel, oil, drilling wastewater and chemicals.” And in December: “Oil and gas have contaminated groundwater in 17 percent of the 2,078 spills and slow releases. … The damage is worse in Weld County, where 40 percent of spills reach groundwater.”

This February, there was a spill in Windsor — 84,000 gallons of fracking fluid requiring 30 hours to stop it.

Neighbors, please attend the planning commission and city council meetings to let our leaders know that more fracking in our city is wrong on so many unhealthy counts. Let us join our courageous neighbors in Fort Collins and Longmont in a moratorium.

City leaders, please use your backbones for the greater good and stop fracking in our fair city. Or, expand our city motto to say, “Great. From the ground up. But you’re on your own from the ground down.”